Sleep Tight
by Tabsy
Summary: Max and Original Cindy face the loss of a dear friend. Written for a challenge to make a DA fanfic out of an Angel ep title.


SLEEP TIGHT  
  
Max took a deep breath as she put the key in the door. She held the breath and closed her eyes for a moment while she walked through the doorway. She opened her eyes and had a quick glance around the apartment. No-one was here. She let her breath go before closing the door and slumping down on the sofa across the room.  
  
"Hey Max"  
  
Max jumped. Who the hell was in her flat?  
  
"Rough day?" a familiar deep, chocolaty voice came from the bathroom. Max breathed a sigh of relief as she saw her best friend emerge from the other room.  
  
"That bad, huh?" Original Cindy joked. Max couldn't smile. She couldn't even speak. All she could do was look at her hands in her lap. Her hair fell over her face.  
  
"Hey, wassup shuga?" Cindy sat down next to Max on the sofa. She brought her feet up to meet her body on the sofa, and leaned slightly towards her best friend. Max didn't cry often, she didn't need to. But when she did, she always struggled to fight back the tears. But right now she knew she was fighting a losing battle.  
  
So did Cindy.  
  
"Max?" Cindy drew Max's hair from her face with one hand, and brought Max's face up to meet her own. She saw the redness in her flatmate's eyes, along with a small tear running down her brunette friend's cheek.  
  
"Max, what's the matter?" Cindy wiped the tear away with her thumb and kept her hand on Max's cheek.  
  
Max took Cindy's wrist and pulled her hand away from her face. Cindy grew ever-more concerned. She put the palm of her other hand on Max's temple and slipped her fingers into her soft, dark hair whilst stroking the top of Max's forehead and hair with her slender thumb.  
  
"Max, sweetie, tell me what's going on?"  
  
But Max didn't want to say. There was the obvious reason, being that she didn't want to upset Cindy. But then there was the other, perhaps more selfish reason. She didn't want Cindy to pull away. She liked Cindy's touch, her soft skin, her gentle hands. However inappropriate at times, Max always felt safe with Cindy's touch, despite the irony of her own incredible strength advantage.  
  
But this was unfair.  
  
Max looked straight into Cindy's eyes. This made Cindy even more worried than before.  
  
"It's Kendra" Max finally managed to blurt out.  
  
"What about her?" said Cindy. Max looked down again. Cindy began to get a little frustrated. Just as Max expected, Cindy drew away her hand.  
  
"Max, what is it?"  
  
The tears began to flow more readily, and as much as she wrestled with her emotions, Max couldn't help but choke on her words. Finally, she plucked up enough courage to let her words go.  
  
"She's dead"  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
The room started spinning.  
  
Did she really just hear what she thought she heard?  
  
What did she even think she heard?  
  
No, it couldn't be.  
  
She must have misheard it.  
  
But then why would Max have been so upset?  
  
Oh Jesus Christ, maybe she did hear correctly, and maybe it was true.  
  
But it can't be.  
  
How can it be?  
  
Oh hell, Cindy, get a hold of yourself.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
"Cindy, Cindy" She could hear Max's voice, but it sounded so distant.  
  
"Cindy, are you ok?" She could feel a hand on either shoulder  
  
"CINDY!"  
  
"What? Huh? Oh God, Max, sorry"  
  
"You kinda spaced out for a second there" said Max, sitting back on the sofa, her eyes still slightly puffed.  
  
"Yeah, well."  
  
There was a long silence between the two women, broken occasionally by small sniffles, amid the two of them both desperately trying to stifle their tears and forbidding themselves from breaking down, in a bid not to let their weakness show through.  
  
Original Cindy closed her eyes.  
  
"How do you know?" she said.  
  
"That bastard of a policeman told me"  
  
"Right"  
  
Another long silence filled the room. Cindy opened her eyes and looked up the floor.  
  
"And how did she."  
  
"Murdered"  
  
"What?" Original Cindy's jaw dropped. She looked straight at Max. Max looked straight back at her. Cindy couldn't contain herself anymore. She covered her mouth with her hands and closed her eyes again before allowing herself to uncontrollably dissolve in a flood of tears. Max immediately leapt over and held Cindy in a comforting embrace.  
  
They stayed like that for a while.  
  
After both women temporarily composed themselves, they sat up, cross-legged on the sofa, both staring at their legs.  
  
"The funeral's next Tuesday" said Max  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Tuesday arrived. Original Cindy and Max made their way to the old church. Kendra was never religious, but her boyfriend was, and he'd decided it was only proper to hold the ceremony in a church. Max had been asked to say a few words about her former flatmate. Max wasn't scared of much, but this was terrifying.  
  
"Umm, well, thank you all for being here today" She said shakily. Max looked around the church. All eyes were on her. She looked over to Original Cindy for support. Cindy winked at Max through tear-filled eyes.  
  
"I met Kendra on my first day in Seattle. She really got me out of a mess. I mean, I'd never even seen this city before, didn't know a soul in sight. Then Kendra came along. She didn't just give me a place to sleep, she gave me a place to live, and perhaps most importantly, a girl who would become one of my closest, most dependable friends"  
  
Max could feel herself starting to well up.  
  
"I remember my first night at Kendra's place. Just before she went into her room, she said to me, 'Sleep tight Max'. Well, all I have left to say, is."  
  
She paused for a minute and took a deep breath.  
  
"Good night, Kendra. Sleep tight"  
  
THE END 


End file.
